Willow Dressel and Carla Zimowsk will be “tag-teaming” this co-presentation on data matters central to all researchers. File Management: Whether gathered directly from archives or downloaded from online sources, digital research material can often wind up in a disorganized mess on your hard drive or in the “cloud,” impossible to easily locate again. An old archivists saying claims “You don’t own it if you can’t find it!” Carla Zimowsk will focus on strategies and tools for keeping your digital research materials organized and discoverable. Data Management: More and more digital data are being used and created in the course of research, yet often little thought is given to managing this data for collaboration, future use, or preservation. Planning ahead for data management is the best way to address these needs. Willow Dressel will discuss creating data management plans and the importance of documenting your data.

Willow Dressel is the E-Science and Plasma Physics Librarian and has been providing reference, instruction, and outreach services for Princeton University Libraries for five years. She is currently developing research data management library services for the sciences. Willow holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Astronomy, and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington.

Carla Zimowsk is the Technology Manager for the History Department at Princeton University, and has provided technical support and leadership for the department for 15 years. During her total of 25 years at Princeton University, Carla also provided a combination of technical and editorial/curatorial support for the Princeton University Art Museum. Carla holds a Bachelors in Music from Blackburn College in Illinois, and a Masters in Communication and Information from Rutgers University in New Jersey.